News / National
Farmers see gloom if no deal is reached at COP 18
27 Nov 2012 at 08:02hrs | Views
Farmers attending the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) being held in the Qatari capital of Doha said they are pushing for the best outcome to the conference, but fearing the worst if nothing comes out.
The farmers who are part of the more than 17 000 delegates from nearly 200 countries who are gathered in the oil-and-gas-rich Qatar, for the next two weeks to try and pace a better environment for the future.
Never Chimanikire, a Zimbabwean smallholder farmer said they could be in for a rough agricultural production ride, if an agreement is not reached any time soon, to save the planet. Chimanikire says the absence of agriculture on the conference's main agenda is an indication that disaster is imminent, and this could result in huge consequences if millions of mouths are not fed.
"As farmers, we smell trouble and fear that if the current disagreements within the parties continue, climate induced disasters will continue to devil us. Drought, floods, pests and other natural causes are here with us and need to be tackled now," the maize and livestock farmer based in Rafingora, Zimbabwe said.
He said they are bearing the brunt of climate change, which has been adversely affecting their productivity and their profitability.
Nesbert Mbilinyi from Tanzania's Mufindi district in the Iringa region, said changing rainfall patterns and higher temperatures have forced smallholder farmers in his region to shorten their growing season and switch to more expensive hybrid crops.
"As we suffer, policy responses to global warming have been mainly driven by debates among scientists, governments. The insights of poor people living on the frontline have been largely neglected, we call for action now and believe that agriculture must be on the forefront," Mbilinyi says.
No agriculture no deal
According to the Africa based Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), who launched the No Agriculture No Deal campaign in 2008 at CoP14 in Poznan , African smallholder farmers are in the eye of the climate change storm.
FANRPAN says increased flooding and droughts have seen crop yields diminish as many farmers struggle to support their own livelihoods.
"Over 70% of the continent's populations are dependent on agriculture, this is a problem which cannot be ignored. While Africa contributes less than 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it stands on the frontline of the economic and social consequences of climate change," the organisation said.
At his keynote presentation during the third Agriculture and Rural Development Day (ARDD), a side event held during COP 17 in Durban South Africa, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr Kanayo Nwanze urged that "negotiators must recognise the critical importance of enabling smallholder farmers to become more resilient to climate change and to grow more food in environmentally sustainable, climate-smart ways."
This has been complemented by most of the agricultural organisations attending COP18 who have long insisted that the primary focus of agriculture discussions in the UNFCCC must be on how agriculture and small producers can adapt to climate change and how this adaptation challenge can be financed.
The discussions in Doha around agriculture are surprisingly not about the devastation of non-action on food systems. The COP 18 discussions will be about how to address agriculture in the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA), a technical body that provides advice and responds to scientific, technological and methodological questions from the COP and the Kyoto Protocol Parties.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) expects that considerable efforts would be required to prepare developing countries to deal with climate-related impacts, particularly in agriculture.
FAO says climate change is expected to significantly alter food production patterns, productivity and crop yields, resulting in far reaching impacts on future global food security.
"There is a global concern, especially among poor developing countries, about how climate change is expected to affect agriculture, resources and people, especially the poor, thus creating an added challenge to meeting food security and poverty alleviation goals. As a result, there is strong and urgent need to gain better understanding of the economic and social impacts of climate change on food and agricultural markets," it says in its New FAO/SIDA Pilot Project: Adaptation of Smallholder Farmers to Climate Change in Morocco report released recently.
FAO says showing results on the ground is essential if farmers, national policy-makers, international organizations and donors are to be persuaded to make climate-smart agriculture a priority.
"Climate-smart agricultural practices can mitigate climate change, improve farmers' lives and make local communities better able to adapt to the danger in climate changes," says the FAO report.
The farmers who are part of the more than 17 000 delegates from nearly 200 countries who are gathered in the oil-and-gas-rich Qatar, for the next two weeks to try and pace a better environment for the future.
Never Chimanikire, a Zimbabwean smallholder farmer said they could be in for a rough agricultural production ride, if an agreement is not reached any time soon, to save the planet. Chimanikire says the absence of agriculture on the conference's main agenda is an indication that disaster is imminent, and this could result in huge consequences if millions of mouths are not fed.
"As farmers, we smell trouble and fear that if the current disagreements within the parties continue, climate induced disasters will continue to devil us. Drought, floods, pests and other natural causes are here with us and need to be tackled now," the maize and livestock farmer based in Rafingora, Zimbabwe said.
He said they are bearing the brunt of climate change, which has been adversely affecting their productivity and their profitability.
Nesbert Mbilinyi from Tanzania's Mufindi district in the Iringa region, said changing rainfall patterns and higher temperatures have forced smallholder farmers in his region to shorten their growing season and switch to more expensive hybrid crops.
"As we suffer, policy responses to global warming have been mainly driven by debates among scientists, governments. The insights of poor people living on the frontline have been largely neglected, we call for action now and believe that agriculture must be on the forefront," Mbilinyi says.
No agriculture no deal
According to the Africa based Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), who launched the No Agriculture No Deal campaign in 2008 at CoP14 in Poznan , African smallholder farmers are in the eye of the climate change storm.
FANRPAN says increased flooding and droughts have seen crop yields diminish as many farmers struggle to support their own livelihoods.
At his keynote presentation during the third Agriculture and Rural Development Day (ARDD), a side event held during COP 17 in Durban South Africa, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Dr Kanayo Nwanze urged that "negotiators must recognise the critical importance of enabling smallholder farmers to become more resilient to climate change and to grow more food in environmentally sustainable, climate-smart ways."
This has been complemented by most of the agricultural organisations attending COP18 who have long insisted that the primary focus of agriculture discussions in the UNFCCC must be on how agriculture and small producers can adapt to climate change and how this adaptation challenge can be financed.
The discussions in Doha around agriculture are surprisingly not about the devastation of non-action on food systems. The COP 18 discussions will be about how to address agriculture in the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA), a technical body that provides advice and responds to scientific, technological and methodological questions from the COP and the Kyoto Protocol Parties.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) expects that considerable efforts would be required to prepare developing countries to deal with climate-related impacts, particularly in agriculture.
FAO says climate change is expected to significantly alter food production patterns, productivity and crop yields, resulting in far reaching impacts on future global food security.
"There is a global concern, especially among poor developing countries, about how climate change is expected to affect agriculture, resources and people, especially the poor, thus creating an added challenge to meeting food security and poverty alleviation goals. As a result, there is strong and urgent need to gain better understanding of the economic and social impacts of climate change on food and agricultural markets," it says in its New FAO/SIDA Pilot Project: Adaptation of Smallholder Farmers to Climate Change in Morocco report released recently.
FAO says showing results on the ground is essential if farmers, national policy-makers, international organizations and donors are to be persuaded to make climate-smart agriculture a priority.
"Climate-smart agricultural practices can mitigate climate change, improve farmers' lives and make local communities better able to adapt to the danger in climate changes," says the FAO report.
Source - Fidelis Zvomuya
